Irony
I've spent my VB class thus far reading about HeLa, or Hela cells. They are cells grown from a single sample, a cervical tumor removed from a woman named Henrietta Lacks in 1951. The discarded cells were cultured, mass-produced, and patented without the consent or permission of her or her family for use in all kinds of biological research. They are used for everything from cancer research to product testing to finding out how human tissue holds up in space.
Some part of me finds it amusing that these cells, basically stolen from a woman in the name of science, are so adaptable, hardy, and proliferative that they are now responsible for up to 20% of all in vitro cell line contamination, invalidating years, maybe decades, of research.
Another part of me finds it a little amazing that a part of this woman, who died years before human beings would walk on the moon, has done everything the modern world has to offer and even been blasted into space, a feat few can boast even today.
Some part of me finds it amusing that these cells, basically stolen from a woman in the name of science, are so adaptable, hardy, and proliferative that they are now responsible for up to 20% of all in vitro cell line contamination, invalidating years, maybe decades, of research.
Another part of me finds it a little amazing that a part of this woman, who died years before human beings would walk on the moon, has done everything the modern world has to offer and even been blasted into space, a feat few can boast even today.